The tender for the Holland Road Government Land Sale (GLS) site closed on March 20. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced that the commercial and residential site attracted a total of 15 bids, and some developers submitted more than one bid through Joint Ventures and consortiums.
Although the price could exceed $1 billion, the site is highly contested because of the lack of sizable integrated mixed-use developments along transport nodes in the pipeline, says Christine Li, director of research at Cushman & Wakefield. This is amid an anticipated strong recovery in the residential sector, she adds.
The significant capital outlay and necessary experience to develop and manage the non-residential component contributed to the significant number of tie-ups, says Ong Teck Hui, national director, research and consultancy at JLL. Multiple tenderers made more than one submission in a bid to increase their winning chances, and the fact that four bidders submitted multiple bids shows their earnestness to secure the site, notes Ong.
Artist's impression of first sale site at Holland Village Extension (Credit: URA)
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Two developers that teamed up are Perennial Real Estate and Qingjian Realty. They jointly submitted two concept proposals, via their subsidiaries. Perennial has experience in the Singapore retail market, while Qingjian's parent company has a construction arm, which can help control construction costs. According to Nicholas Mak, executive director at ZACD Group, working together will allow both to leverage their respective strengths.
Other developers who have teamed up are Roxy-Pacific, Chip Eng Seng, and JBE Holdings who submitted a bid through their subsidiaries. City Developments Limited, CapitaLand, and Singapore Land also submitted bids.
The GLS site is an opportunity for developers who have not been able to secure any land parcels in the last 12 to 18 months due to runaway land prices, to acquire a site, possibly without paying top dollar, says Li. The Holland Road GLS site was launched for sale via the Concept and Price revenue tender system. The various concept proposals will be evaluated first and only successful proposals subsequently evaluated based on the highest bid price.
However if the result is not announced by April 26, some parties involved might submit more conservative bids for the upcoming GLS tender for sites at Cuscaden Road, Silat Avenue, and Mattar Road, due to the large capital commitment to the Holland Road site, says Ong.